DEGREE OF COMPARISON

Degrees of Comparison are used when we compare one person or one thing
withanother.There are three Degrees of Comparison in English :
1. Positive degree
2. Comparative degree
3. Superlative degree

For short adjectives, English adds the suffix "-er" to an adjective to form the comparative
degree, and adds "-est" to form the superlative degree. For adjectives longer than about
two syllables, and for adverbs, English precedes the word with "more" for the comparative
and "most" for the superlative.
Examples :
Positive Comparative Superlative
wise wiser wisest
beautiful more beautiful most beautiful
slow (adjective) slower slowest
slowly (adverb) more slowly most slowly

1. Positive degree

When we speak about only one person or thing,We use the Positive degree.
Examples:
 This house is big.
(In this sentence only one noun “The house” is talked about.)
 He is a tall student.
 This flower is beautiful.
 He is an intelligent boy.
Each sentence mentioned above talks about only one noun.

There are two more comparisons with the ‘positive form’ of the adjective words. They are:

a. Degree of Equality: This comparison is used to compare two persons, animals or

things to tell us that they are equal – having the same quality.

Examples :

The brown cat is as beautiful as the grey cat.

b. Degree of Inequality: This comparison is used to compare two persons, animals or

things to tell us that they are not equal – not having the same quality.

Examples :
 The brown cat is not so beautiful as the black & white cat.

2. Comparative degree

When we compare two persons or two things with each other,We use the Comparative
degree.
Examples:
 This house is bigger than that one.
 This flower is more beautiful than that.
 He is more intelligent than this boy.
 He is taller than Mr. Hulas.

3. Superlative degree

When we compare more than two persons or things with one another,We use all the three
Positive, Comparative and Superlative degrees.
Examples:
 This is the biggest house in this street.
 This flower is the most beautiful one in this garden. (Superlative)This flower is more
beautiful than any other flower in this garden.
 He is the most intelligent in this class.
 He is the tallest student in this class.

Note :
*Degrees of Comparison are applicable only to Adjectives and Adverbs*
*Nouns and verbs do not have degrees of comparisons*
 He is the tallest student in the class.
(The term “tallest” is an adjective)
 Among the members of the group, Mr. Clinton speaks most effectively.
(The term “effectively” is an adverb)

There are words do not take any suffix or any other word before them, but change their
spelling and pronunciation entirely to form new words with the same meaning, of course:

good/well – better — the best

bad/evil/ill — worse — the worst

little — less/lesser* — the least

much — more — the most

many — more — the most

late — later/latter* — the latest/last*

old — older/elder* – the oldest/eldest*

far — farther — the farthest

fore — former — the foremost/first*

fore – further — the furthest

in — inner — the inmost/inner most

up — upper — the upmost/uppermost

out — outer/utter — the utmost/utter most